Van Meter Elementary Library VOICE

What I Learned By Visiting Bookstores in Colorado Over Christmas

2012-01-04T21:26:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year, Everyone. I hope your holiday break was filled with peace, happiness, and lots of fun.

And of course a lot of wonderful books and reading too.

When I went to Colorado over Christmas, I looked for places with books. Libraries, bookstores, even in the lodge that we stayed at. I looked for fun, cozy, little places to read too....one of my favorite things to do on vacations is to read and bring books back from these special visits.

I found the cutest bookstore in Steamboat called Off the Beaten Path. They had a sweet little comfy spot for children. I just loved sitting back in that area reading and looking at all of their books.

Hagan, Brianna, and I bought several books at this bookstore during the week because of the great book talking that happened while we were there.

Not only were there people talking about the books that they read, they also had a big section that featured "Staff Picks" (as you can see in the photo above).

At the end of the week, we went back to Fort Collins and spent the day walking around town.

The first place we went was to The Bean Cycle Coffee House. The coffee house was super cool but tucked into the back of the store was something very special.

It was the Matter Bookstore, which is part of Wolverine Farm Publishing. On their website it states, "A non-profit run solely by volunteers, Matter Bookstore's mission is to provide the community with a valuable resource through our carefully selected books and publications, weekly events, and the support of various causes. All the money generated from book sales goes directly to funding publications such as the Matter Journal and toward various literacy outreach programs."

Their children's area was amazing. It was one of the most inspiring, creative spaces that I have ever seen. From the original art work on the walls to the tree branch greeting you at the entrance .....everything was so special.

I could just imagine how a child would feel being able to read and dream within this space.

And once again there were people talking about books...sharing favorites and picking up new ones to read. One thing I really loved about the Matter Bookstore was how they sold old books too. I saw a lot of my childhood favorites on the shelves for sale (notice how they are organized by the color of their spine too.....cute!) and had so much fun sharing them with my own kids.

Being in these spaces made me think about our elementary library.

I love the space that we have. It is welcoming, warm, and a place our students enjoy reading, creating, thinking, and learning. It is a space where they have fun. We have a new loft that they love to read in....they also love reading underneath the loft too.

As we start a new semester this week, I thought of a few new ideas to bring to our library and students.

I went out to the garage and found a box of books from my childhood. I found my Judy Blume books like Blubber, Are You There God It's Me Margaret, and Freckle Juice. I also found books that I read for my classes at school like The Pigman and A Christmas Carol.

It was so much fun seeing which book I would pull out of the box next. I was so excited to show my students.

I decided to create a special "Book Talk Box" for the books I would be book talking for the week.

Not only would the "Book Talk Box" hold the books I read when I was young, but also books from our collection.....new books, classics, nonfiction favorites, poetry, books about people I wanted them to learn about too.

Another special place in our library.....just like the places we found on our trip.

The "Book Talk Box" can even travel around the school, maybe even with other people besides me. There will be lots of possibilities for our box.

So remember to always keep you eyes and mind open to new ideas.

They will fill your libraries and schools with happiness.

My Fifth Graders Join Club Click, Our Virtual Student Photography Club!

2011-12-21T20:24:00.000-08:00

Last spring, Diane Cordell and I thought it would be fun to get others involved in "Club Click", the student photography club that the two of us started with students at Van Meter, after we had lots of interest from friends on Twitter. What fun to make our "virtual" photography club reach even more places, students, and teachers. After all....Diane is in upstate New York....over 1,000 miles from Van Meter so what is a few thousand more miles between all of us.

This was also the first year that I would bring Club Click to the elementary students.

When John Schu and I spoke about Club Click coming to his school, we decided that our 5th graders would be a great place to start. We both introduced Club Click to our students and set off to create slideshows of our schools to share with one another through Skype.

John's 5th graders at Brook Creek presented their slideshows in small groups to our students in the computer lab this fall. They were amazing! My students were so excited to create their slideshows to show them too.

One of the BEST parts of this project was talking to the students about photography. Diane Skyped in with the students and talked about the photos that she takes. I showed them many examples and different devices that I used. I showed them photographs from my camera, iPhone, iTouch, and iPad. We talked about different apps that can be used and editing the photographs in iPhoto.

We also discussed using images in works that they produced. I touched on copyright and fair use. From the Little Van Meter Library Voice website, I showed the students places they could find images to use.

I told the students that they could bring their own device to take photos. Some of the students brought cameras but most of them had phones and iTouches. I also have 10 iTouches and two cameras in the library that they can use anytime.

They were so excited to set off in their groups to capture photographs of Van Meter to tell their story.

And when they got back to the library....they couldn't wait to get started and show off the photographs they had taken.

The groups worked together to choose and edit the photographs they were going to include in their iPhoto slideshows.

I loved watching the groups work together too. They would ask each other to watch the slideshows and then go back into them for more editing. Some of the groups decided that they needed more photographs so would go out and take a few more.

Once the slideshows were perfected, I uploaded them onto the Van Meter Librarian YouTube channel. They will be easy to share with John's students and the others who are part of Club Click.

We hope you enjoy the slideshows of Van Meter, too.

Next Up....."DOT DOT" Celebration!

2011-09-10T16:39:00.000-07:00

This post is from John Schu and Shannon Miller's Two Libraries One Voice blog.

We are so excited!

This week we will be celebrating "International DOT Day" together. DOT Day is on September 15th, which is when The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds was first published in 2003. On this day, Peter and FableVision Learning challenges people all over the world to "make your own mark and see where it takes you."

We have been doing a lot at our schools to get ready for this super fun day.

The students are welcomed into John's library at Brook Forest Elementary with this amazing display.

And can learn more about Peter and FableVision here.

Shannon and her students created this new display in the Van Meter Elementary Library and they are enjoying all of the new books they added to their collection too.

Last week, a big group of Shannon's 7th and 8th graders created beautiful DOT art work outside. She wrote about this day on the Van Meter VOICE blog.... Today The Students Made Their Mark....On Each Other, The World, and ME!

She created signs for DOT DAY on the library and art room doors. The students created signs throughout the school with the banners.

And John's students started decorating paper with their DOTS too.

To celebrate in the libraries this week, we have planned a lot of literacy and art activities for the students. We are going to be painting and drawing with watercolors, finger paints, crayons, colored pencils, and sidewalk chalk. There is even an activity involving coffee filters, markers, and water bottles...Oh my.

Our kids are going to create DOTS using the iPads and drawing apps. We will be sharing these creations with each other over Skype.

John had a great idea today.....ROLL OUT the "Read" carpet for the week and have our students add dots throughout the week.

And even our students are planning things.....like Alissa.

We will be sharing The Dot and other special books like Dotty by Erica Perl,

and Dot by Patricia Intriago over Skype with our students.

And of course a DOT Day celebration would not be complete without DOTS for everyone. :)

So just as the sweet character Vashti learns in The Dot, anyone can make a mark on the world.

This week in Oak Brook, Illinois and Van Meter, Iowa, we will celebrate the marks of every single person in our schools and the uniqueness of them all.

We cannot wait to hear how you are going to celebrate DOT Day too!

Our Kids Caught the Gingerbread Man With a Little Help From a QR Code

2011-09-05T20:08:00.000-07:00

To start off the year, I read Laura Murray's new book The Gingerbread Loose in the School to the kindergarten, 1st grade, and 2nd grade students.

Laura did an amazing job writing this book and the illustrations created by Mike Lowery are perfect! .

This adorable story takes the readers on a journey through the school with a newly baked Gingerbread Man. I had lots of friends (including 8th graders Ben Trent and Isaac Benton) come to the elementary library to read this story to the little ones. It was a book that we all laughed out loud as it was read.

After we read the book, I thought that it would be fun to create a scavenger hunt and find some of our own special people at Van Meter School. I decided to create one using QR Codes (quick response codes).

The first thing I did was decide which locations I would have the children search. I took photographs of these people and uploaded them to Flickr.

Then I used the site Kaywa to create the QR codes. For each image, I created a QR code using the url for that image from Flickr. Once the QR code was created, I took a screen shot of each one.

I then pasted each QR code into a Google Doc that I opened just for this project. I labeled each code at the top of the page, copied it six times in the Google Doc, and ran the entire document off when it was complete. This was very helpful because you need to make sure you know which code goes to each unique location.....or it will be a lot of extra work when hanging up the clues around the school.

I cut out each set of QR codes and pasted them onto copies of the cover and little pieces of black paper. I made sure each location had six scanning sites so the children could spread out during the scavenger hunt.

When they came for library time, I explained to them what QR codes were and how they can hold all kinds of information, images, music, and other things. A few of the students raised their hands to tell us how they had seen them at stores or in magazines. One little boy even scanned a QR code before on a pop can.

I showed them how to open up the scanning app and place the camera over the QR code. They were so excited to see a photograph of me pop up on the screen of the iTouch.

Next, it was time to put the iTouches into the hands of the students. For a lot of the little ones, this was the very first time they had even held an iTouch. I loved watching their faces and listening to the excitement in the library.

We went to the different locations and took turns scanning the QR codes and looking at the clues. They all did such an amazing job working together and sharing the iTouches.

To find out who the children had to find on the scavenger hunt, please watch this Animoto entitled A Fun QR Code Scavenger Hunt at Van Meter . It is so fun to watch their faces and the excitement that happened during this activity.

Two of our student bloggers also wrote about the Gingerbread Man QR code project.

MacKenzie Roberts, who is an 8th grader, wrote a post entitled The Gingerbread Man Lost in the School on her new blog Music To My Life. MacKenzie and her friends helped me take the students around the school on the hunt. It was so great having them there to help me with the younger ones....everyone enjoyed this.

And first grader Hagan Miller wrote about the fun he had participating in the scavenger hunt last week on his blog, Hagan's World of Awesome.

We will definitely be searching for the Gingerbread Man again at Van Meter School.

Don't Stop Believing...That We Can Make A Difference!

2011-06-18T18:25:00.000-07:00

Last year I had the pleasure of meeting Stephen Gagnon , who is a 4th grade teacher in Portsmouth, New Hampshire at Strathum Elementary. Our mutual friend Patrick Larkin introduced Stephen and I on Twitter. Throughout the school year, Stephen and I connected his students with the 4th graders at Van Meter in Staci Braun, Cindi Burnes and Jenny Stephens classrooms.

These connections happened in the classroom and in the library at Van Meter. I loved the day that his students taught ours about World Math Day (this is a post about connecting that day).

They even played on the World Maths Day website against one another which was a great learning experience for all of the students....and the teachers too.

One of my very favorite connections was when Mr. G's class had a "So You Think You Got Talent" show for us in the library computer lab. When his class started singing and dancing I told our 4th graders, "Get up and dance too!" It was so much fun for everyone.

As the year continued, I started to connect with Stephen's class each day through Twitter. Stephen started a Twitter for his class called @mrgclass and I connected with his students through this account.

The students (especially Faith) would send me weather updates every morning and compare the weather at Portsmouth to Van Meter. I loved getting the Twitter updates and making that daily connection with the students. They called this project "Race To Summer" and each student gathered weather data for the two locations.

Last week his students took all of the weather data that they had been collecting over the last few months and created impressive graphs. They shared their predictions, outcomes and even photos of their graphs. I was so proud of what they had accomplished and created.

After I wrote a post about our connections on the Edmodo blog entitled The Little Things That Make A Difference, I was so honored to receive several tweets like this from Mr. G's class. They mean just as much to me and I saw them as other students of mine as well.

Mr. G's class gets out of school for the summer next week. We really wanted to connect another time before the break. Last Friday they invited me to watch another GREAT talent show. I couldn't wait!

At the end of the performances, they surprised me with a special song they had practiced just for me. As I sat in my kitchen watching the students at Strathum Elementary do an incredible job singing Journey's Don't Stop Believing, I got tears in my eyes.

When they finished singing, the kids yelled out "Thank you, Mrs. Miller." I was sad to tell them goodbye for the summer. I told them how they could connect with me over the summer and that I couldn't wait to see them in the fall.

I was so happy to also receive a VoiceThread from Mr. G's class. Everyone of them left me a little message. I just love listening to what the connections with our students, authors and others meant to them. The connections, relationships and projects made a difference in their year, learning and lives.

This is definitely one year that Mr. G's class will not forget. Stephen is one of the most amazing teachers that I have ever meant. He has given his students a VOICE through their classroom Twitter, Skype and several experiences such as the ones I have described in this post. I am the lucky one to have been invited into his classroom.

Image created by Gwyneth Jones, The Daring Librarian

As I prepare for ISTE next week in Philadelphia, these students come to my mind often. During the SIGMS Forum There Is No Better Time: A Dawning Era For School Librarians, they will be part of how I describe how we can all Be A Change for our students, schools and throughout the world.
For when one receives a tweet like this.....

we know that we can make a difference.

And that a class of 4th graders 1000 miles away can make a difference in your life too.

This is one year that I will never forget.

A Real Treat....Robert Forbes Visits Van Meter!

2011-05-15T19:12:00.001-07:00

Last Friday we had the honor of hosting Robert Forbes in our library. John Schu and I were introduced to Robert and his poetry through our friend Rocco during Poetry Month in April. We soon planned a day to Skype and share poetry with our students in Van Meter and Brook Forest.

Robert has written two books filled with amazing, fun poetry entitled Let's Have a Bite...A Banquet of Beastly Rhymes and Beastly Feasts...A Mischievous Menagerie in Rhyme.

Mrs. Braun's 4th graders and Mrs. Thompson's 5th graders were the lucky ones to meet Robert. After listening to several poems and hearing about the incredible illustrator Ronald Searle, the students engaged in a wonderful conversation with the poet. He spoke about how he started writing, the inspiration for the characters in his poems, what he enjoyed reading, and encouraged the students to always dream big.

Robert visited with us for over a hour and it was one of the best times we have had during an author visit. I loved it when the students told him how they "carried his poems in their pockets" during Poem In Your Pocket Day on April 13th (read about John's and I celebration at twolibrariesonevoice.com)

We look forward to reading, sharing, and following Robert's work.

Thank you, Robert. You are truly an inspiration to us all.

You can read more about Robert and his work on the RobertForbes.com website.

Katie Davis Shares Her New Book....Little Chicken's Big Day!

2011-05-07T18:54:00.000-07:00

Last week, author Katie Davis visited my 3rd graders over Skype in the Van Meter Elementary Library. Katie shared her new book Little Chicken's Big Day that she created with her husband Jerry. This sweet book spends the day with Little Chicken and takes the reader on a range of emotions through adorable illustrators and simple words. My dear friend John Schu sent me Katie's book in the mail and I couldn't wait to share it with the students at Van Meter. They loved listening to Katie read it.

It was exciting for the 3rd graders to hear her talk about the process of writing and illustrating a children's book. She spoke about getting things just right....like the car seat Little Chicken was in. It took them several attempts to get the look that they wanted.

The third graders asked her so many wonderful questions. One of the best, "What was your favorite book as a child?" Katie was so excited to answer that...she ran off to get two of her childhood favorites to share. When we finished the Skype, the kids said, "She is like you Mrs. Miller...you share your old books with us too."

This is one book that you will definitely want to share with your students.

And find out for yourself what happens to Little Chicken on his big day!

Katie also wrote about Little Chicken's Big Day on her amazing blog...you can read it here!

The Day That Van Meter Dropped Everything and Read

2011-04-12T20:54:00.000-07:00

Drop Everything And Read Website

It was a very special day of reading in schools, libraries and homes today.

We were all celebrating D.E.A.R. Day! On this day we "Drop Everything and Read."

D.E.A.R. is always celebrated April 12th on Beverly Cleary's birthday. To make D.E.A.R. even more special, one of her book characters, Ramona Quimby, is the official spokesperson responsible for spreading the word and the love of reading.

There are amazing activities and resources on the official D.E.A.R. website . On the front page page you can even read an online version of Beezus and Ramona from the Brown and HarperCollins Children's Books website.

And my favorite part of the D.E.A.R. site....You can send your friends an email card to tell them about this day.

Drop Everything And Read Website

All throughout the day we found students, teachers and parents reading at Van Meter. These are just a few of the photographs we got on this very special day.

We asked teachers and students to email their photographs to the Van Meter Voice. As I get these images of how everyone spent D.E.A.R. day, I will add them below.

Thank you for sharing and find a little time each day to.....

DROP EVERYTHING AND READ.

It Was Definitely a New Leaf in Learning....Follett Software User Conference

2011-03-14T00:38:00.000-07:00

On March 9th after a busy day of connecting with several schools and six authors for World Read Aloud Day, I flew to Chicago for an exciting event. I was going to the first Follett Software User Conference being held at the Fairmont Chicago Millenium Park. Over the last few months I had connected with many people from Follett and others who were attending the conference, so I was very excited to get to Chicago.

The morning of March 10th Don Tapscott opened with an inspiring keynote speech. As I participated in the #FSC11 Twitter stream, a few of my favorite quotes to share were, "We need our students to LOVE learning. We need to be PASSIONATE, creative learners ourselves" and "School should be like summer camp. It should be fun." Everyone in the audience left the ballroom knowing we could all create a change in education and in the future of our young people.

The day was filled with breakout sessions covering a variety of themes such as Data Driven Decision Making, Curriculum & Instruction, IT/Technology Leadership, Library & Resource Management and Product Support Center.

I was asked to present at the conference about social media being used within in education. I was very excited to share my story about how I am using social media with the students, teachers, and school community at Van Meter. I told stories about the connections at schools such as Merton in Wisconsin and Grosse Pointe South in Detroit.

There were two highlights for me in the session. First, my friend John Schu traveled from his school in Oak Brook to join me that afternoon. John and I met at the School Library Journal Summit last October in Chicago and had become amazing friends and teaching partners since. This was only the second time we had met in person but collaborate and communicate almost everyday. Also, we have used Skype, Twitter, Edmodo, YouTube, Animoto, Blogger and other resources to connect our students to several incredible projects over the last few months.

John and I created the Two Libraries One Voice blog to share our experiences with students, teachers, parents and others. During the presentation, we spoke about not just our relationship but the one that we have created with our students and schools. He even brought a whole envelope of the sweetest hand made cards that his students created that morning. It was so nice having him there with me to share our incredible connection.

I didn't want to be the only one to share Van Meter's story, so I Skyped in four of our students from Iowa so everyone could hear their voices too. Julia, Michael, Maddy, and Emma told stories of using social media and how it had changed their education and lives. They spoke about how social media gave them a voice and a place to connect to their passions. I was proud as I listened to them tell their stories.

The day before the conference they videotaped one another and created a short iMovie just in case Skype failed us the day of the conference.

Below you can find the SlideShare of my presentation.

Social Media in Education

After a day of learning and connecting, everyone headed to Aria in the hotel for a Tweet Up. Brandi Heinz and Carly Anne Molstad greeted John and I with fun t-shirts and conversation. They did a great job coordinating the Tweet Up and getting everyone together to continue the connections.

The next morning offered more breakout sessions about a variety of topics. I loved Elaine Roberts, Director of Professional Development for Follett Software, presentation about project based learning. We had a great conversation about the topic which lead to many ideas for all of us in the session.

The highlight was when she Skyped in Ginger Lewman'sstudents at the Turning Point Learning Center in Emporia, Kansas. The students were excited to show us a Viking Ship which they created together and a phonograph powered by a Lego's robotic piece. They reminded me of my students at Van Meter and definitely had a voice in their education and future too.

At lunch Susan Patrick, President and CEO of theInternational Association for K-12 Online learning (iNACOL), spoke about the future of education and importance of global online learning. After listening to the keynote, I was anxious to go back to Van Meter armed with new ideas about online learning within our school.

The Follett Software User Conference was by far one of the best learning experiences I have been part of during my career. The people at Follett are incredible and really made sure they created an experience all of the attendees would enjoy.

As I left the conference on Saturday, I picked up my program to pack it in my bag. On the back it said, "Thank you for attending A New Leaf in Learning Follett Software User Conference". I smiled as I looked at the logo they had developed. The different colored leaves on the tree represents not only the various types of knowledge we gained but also the lastly connections we were lucky enough to have throughout those three days. When a variety of people come together for a common conversation, we all leave richer and more diverse than before. To me, this was the best part.

Thank you Follett for bringing us together. I look forward to coming back next year.

How Two Schools in Two States Celebrated Read Across America Day Together

2011-03-02T20:41:00.001-08:00

Theodor Seuss Geisel (AKA Dr. Seuss) was born on March 2, 1904. On March 2, schools, bookshops, and libraries celebrate the power of reading and Dr. Seuss's birthday.

It is also the day we celebrate NEA's Read Across America Day! As the NEA site states, "NEA's national reading celebration takes places each year on or near March 2, the birthday of Dr. Seuss. Across the country, thousands of schools, libraries, and community centers participate by bringing together kids, teens, and books, and you can too."

So that is exactly what we decided to do at Van Meter and Oak Brook schools this year.

Shannon's kindergarten students (from Christa McClintock's classroom) and John's third graders (from Mrs. Sompolski's classroom) connected on the morning of Dr. Seuss's 107th birthday in their libraries to celebrate this very special day. After introductions and a little sharing about what the students knew about Dr. Seuss the celebration began.

John's students took turns reading pages from Dr. Seuss's ABC while Christa held up the book in Van Meter for the students to see. It was fun to hear all of the students say their ABC's together too.

They played Seuss Bingo as a group with Shannon and John calling out words such as, "Brook Forest, Van Meter, Fun, The Foot Book, and Read Across America." The students marked their Seuss cards and yelled "BINGO" from both schools.

The students read the NEA Reader's Oath together.

At the end of the Skype celebration, the two schools stood up and sang Happy Birthday to Dr. Seuss. To watch the smiles on their faces and to see the excitement throughout the libraries was very special for everyone.

As the children ate their cupcakes in Van Meter and cookies in Oak Brook, this line from the Reader's Oath came to mind....

"I'll read to myself, I'll read to a crowd. It makes no difference, if it's silent or loud."

What a difference reading together made within these two schools and in the lives of the children on this day. This is a celebration of reading with new and old friends that they will always remember.

A Day of Connecting At Van Meter

2011-02-26T20:16:00.000-08:00

Last Thursday was a day of exciting connections at Van Meter.

It all started out at 8:00am before school even started in Shawn Hyer's room. His 7th grade reading class Skyped with Christina Spiezio's 7th graders in New Jersey. They had fun exchanging conversations about the differences between Iowa and New Jersey, books, and made plans for future connections. They are starting a project working together in Edmodo talking about current event articles on Tween Tribune and other sites. I was lucky enough to met Christina and her teaching partner Chuck Poole at #NTCamp Philly last summer. Chuck's students have connected with our 6th graders this year too. Shawn's other class of 7th graders connected in the afternoon with more of Christina's students.

My friend Stephen Gagnon, a 4th grade teacher in Portsmouth, New Hampshire at Strathum Elementary, told me about World Maths Day. On this site, students can play other students from around the world. On March 1st for 48 hours there is a competition for students ages 5-18. Stephen's students have completed thousands of practice problems within the last few weeks at school and home. Since his students are so great at the World Maths Day site we thought it would be fun to have Mr. G's students teach our students about it too. They Skyped in for almost a hour to Cindi Byrne's 4th grade classroom at Van Meter. They introduced themselves, talked about their schools, learned about World Math Day and the site, and at the end after everyone signed into the site, they even played each other. It was such a fun experience for all of the kids.

After the connection with Mr. G's students, the 4th graders went to the elementary computer lab to hear an amazing presentation by Paula Naugle's 4th graders in New Orleans. She contacted me about her students presenting their Mardi Gras projects to our students. They presented to Staci Braun's and Mrs. Byrnes classes. The students in New Orleans showed masks, items from the parades, photographs, told personal stories, and even did a dance at the end. It was so amazing! Our kids asked great questions to their new friends too.

I have been working with Eric Trudo's advanced computer class on a social media unit. After introducing various social networking tools and telling the class about Twitter, which is my favorite, I thought it would be beneficial for them to hear from another educator too. I asked my wonderful friend Steven Anderson @web20classroom to Skyped with Eric's class. Steven spoke to the students about Twitter and other social media tools. He also spoke about his PLN and the power of the connections that he makes every single day through social networks. The students really enjoyed hearing his story and our conversation about the connections we make to enrich the lives of students and teachers within our schools.

All of these connections started when we met each other on Twitter. We collaborate together, share resources, discuss education, and help one another out. We invite these people into our classrooms to teach our students and encourage relationships between our classrooms and schools. Through these connections we are teaching our students about the power of connections, the importance of communication, and the value of friendship.

And this is just one day at Van Meter. I cannot wait to see who "visits" our classrooms and students next.

Celebrating the Power of Words and Stories Through Connections!

2011-02-20T18:31:00.001-08:00

On March 9th, we will be celebrating World Read Aloud Day together.

On LitWorld's website, World Read Aloud Day is described as,

"A day to take action to show the world that the right to read and write belongs to all people. World Read Aloud Day motivates children, teens, and adults worldwide to celebrate the power of words, especially those words that are shared from one person to another, and creates a community of readers advocating for every child's right to a safe education and access to books and technology. By raising our voices together on this day we show the world's children that we support their future; they they have the right to read, to write, and to share their words to change the world."

So last Friday, we collaborated from Van Meter Community School to Brook Forest Elementary School through Skype and brainstormed a way to connect not only our students, but other students, teachers, and communities around the world.

We are calling our project CELEBRATING THE POWER OF WORDS AND STORIES THROUGH CONNECTIONS. Throughout the day on March 9th, we will be connecting our students and others around the world with amazing books through read aloud's and discussions on Skype. Last night, we connected with seven other educators who are as excited as we are. And this is just a start!

Today we created a wiki to connect everyone, coordinate times, post photographs and videos, and reflect after the event. The wiki is open for others to join. Please feel free to share on the wiki too.

This is going to be an exciting project and one that will make an impact on the lives of our students and others. On LitWorld's website there areseveral activities and a blog to read what others are doing for this special day in their school too. Have fun and remember....our voices can make a difference!

Ryan Sloth Visiting Van Meter!

2011-02-06T15:04:00.000-08:00

The students at Van Meter are excited to have a very special visitor tomorrow!

Ryan Sloth, author of Sammy Sloth, is coming to speak to the students about being an author and the importance of reading and writing. As his website states, "Ry Sloth introduces children to a youngster who, with the encouragement of his mother, is determined never to give up on his dream. Join Sammy Sloth on his journey to learn the importance of continued effort and hard work to succeed. Children and adults will find themselves cheering Sammy along on his quest to become Sammy Sloth: Sport Superstar!"

Ryan played ball at Iowa State University. He then went on to play arena football for the Columbus Destroyers, Bakersfield Blitz and Iowa Barnstormers. Ryan is currently a defensive and special teams coach for the Barnstormers.

Thank you Ryan for taking the time to visit us! We look forward to learning with you.

Two Libraries One Voice Blog

2011-01-09T22:38:00.001-08:00

Once upon a time, two librarians met at the School Library Journal Summit in Chicago. They became instant friends and knew from the start that their students would love connecting too!

Ever since that day, John Schu the teacher librarian at Brook Forest Elementary in Oak Brook, Illinois and Shannon Miller the teacher librarian at Van Meter Community School in Van Meter, Iowa have been creating innovative and exciting ways to connect their students in the library and computer lab.

The new Two Libraries One Voice blog will tell the story of their journey and hopefully give others ideas and encouragement to connect their students to others outside of the school walls.

Connecting with our Brook Forest Friends Using Edmodo!

2010-12-17T14:39:00.000-08:00

On November 24th I wrote about connecting with John Schu and his amazing students at Brook Forest Elementary in Oak Brook, Illinois. Ever since I met John at the School Library Journal Summit in Chicago this last fall we have thought of fun ways to connect our students in the library.

In this project we focused on the 4th graders at Brook Forest and Van Meter. We both have two sections of 4th grade in our school so it worked out perfect having two groups....Fourth Grade Reads 1 and Fourth Grade Reads 2.

The students started out by introducing themselves and posting something of their choice about school, their town, what they liked to read, favorite authors, and more.

The next time they came to library it was fun to see them read about their new friends and reply to comments. They were excited when they read about similar interests and hobbies.

Today in the computer lab, I loved watching them also respond to their classmates at Van Meter. The conversations are growing in our two groups and this is becoming exciting and challenging to the students to think about what they are writing. The connections they are making mean something to them and give them a VOICE in their learning.

We created this Animoto video as a THANK YOU to Mr. Schu and all of the 4th graders at Brook Forest Elementary. We wish you a very happy holiday season and cannot wait to connect again in 2011.

The Edublog Awards Meets the Geek Tribe!

2010-12-12T16:38:00.000-08:00

Posted by joycevalenza on December 5th, 2010 on the Neverending Search Blog from School Library Journal

Yesterday, the Edublogs folks announced the short list for the seventh annual Edublogs Awards. As I examined the list, I began to realize how far we’ve come as a tribe. It probably started just over a year ago when we first got together as a group to prepare for AASL Charlotte.

This morning Gwyneth and Shannon and I Skyped about our upcoming Educon2.3 session, but the conversation kept returning to the presence teacher librarians have developed in the larger edtechosphere.

Awards are really nice. Personal recognition is really nice. But you can’t help but notice that it has been a year of serious accomplishment and dramatic school library creep across the board. My hope (always) is that a rising tide lifts all boats.

So explore ALL the wonderful contributors who made a difference and were nominated for an Edublogs Award. But also take a good long celebratory look at this Google Doc and see what a difference our own Geek Tribe has made. And then vote for your favorites!

The three of us starred all the library/librarian-connected projects we recognized. Please add stars to any we may have missed. (23 blogs in the official category of best librarian/ library blogs were nominated this time around!)

Congratulations all. Great work, tribe!

And as Gwyneth says, let’s embrace & welcome our new voices and recruit new Geek Tribe members! And no matter who wins the Edublog awards — really, we all win!

We are stronger when we share!

~ Gwyneth – Joyce – Shannon -

Celebrating Ivy + Bean Day with Brook Forest Elementary

2010-11-24T17:13:00.001-08:00

This month in the Van Meter Elementary Library the second graders celebrated Ivy + Bean Day! Ivy + Bean are two wonderful characters in a series of books by Annie Barrows.

To make the celebration even more exciting we connected to Brook Forest Elementary Library in Oak Brook, Illinois. Mrs. Miller met their librarian, Mr. John Shue when they attended the School Library Journal Summit in Chicago at the end of October. They just knew that all of the students would have a GREAT time connecting and sharing their celebrations with one another.

During the celebration, we created Double Dare Cootie Catches, designed Ivy's bedroom just like we wanted, dressed Ivy + Bean in awesome clothes, and shared the seven books with one another. As a special surprise, Ivy + Bean even left us tiny cupcakes in the library for us to eat. Everyone had an awesome time and it was so much fun getting to know more about Brook Creek Elementary too!

You can find out more about Ivy + Bean on the Van Meter Elementary Library and Tech Voice Google site at littlevanmetervoice.com on the Second Grade page.

And don't forget to check out the library for all of the Ivy + Bean books!

The Power of the FIRST Connection With Merton Community School!

2010-10-08T09:01:00.000-07:00

On Monday morning before school, 2 kindergarten teachers, 2 second grade teachers, 2 third grade teachers, the Merton technology teacher, the Van Meter Elementary principal, and the Van Meter teacher librarian sat down to talk about how they could start connecting their two schools and the different classrooms. The meeting was so exciting and everyone enjoyed the conversation of how the two schools could connect, learn, and create with one another. The unique piece of the meeting is that we were over 300 miles apart in two different towns.

On this day, Van Meter Community School in Van Meter, Iowa and Merton Community School in Merton, Wisconsin were collaborating through Skype and taking their students' learning outside of the school walls. Lisa Morowski, Merton's technology teacher, and myself, the district teacher librarian, connected on Twitter a few weeks ago and soon after started planning our first activity to kick off this new partnership. We shared the idea with the teachers, collaborated on times that would work, and set our plans into motion. What an exciting week this would be!

Today was the first day our students connected! It happened in the two kindergarten classrooms. As I watched our kindergarten students being read Where The Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak from the classroom in Wisconsin, I could feel the connections starting. The students were engaged, excited, and sharing. It was hard not to smile as I watched them meet their new friends. And I loved it when one asked, "When are we going to get to go and visit the Wisconsin students?"

I have had people ask me before, "What is the power in these Skype connections? What do students really get out of them?"

After school my son Hagan, who was one of the lucky kindergarten students at Van Meter today, came up to the library and got a new book from my desk. Hagan and I had read it together last week and he knew there was a map of the United States inside the front cover. Hagan got up on a chair where I was working and said to me, "Mommy, I can show you where our new friends live on this map. They live in Wisconsin. It is right here by Iowa."

There is your answer! Our students are gaining knowledge, experiences, and relationships that they might not have had before. Hagan not only learned where Wisconsin and Iowa were on the map, he was now able to make a personal connection to this knowledge. And he also has a whole other classroom full of wonderful children and teachers that he will be learning with throughout the year. This is something that I want for not only my own children, but for all the students at Van Meter and around the world.

That is the POWER of the first connection!

You can follow the story of these two schools throughout the year at the Van Meter Merton Connect blog!

Why I Love Being A Teacher!

2010-09-24T13:38:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was showing the 5th graders the new Van Meter Elementary Library and Tech VOICE Google site. On the "Important Information" page I posted a video called Be The Change You Want To See, which I used in two library presentations last week. When the kids saw that it was a YouTube video of our library they all wanted to see it, so I played it for them.

As the video and Hey There Delilah started playing the students began to sway back and forth while singing the popular song quietly. When it got to the chorus, everyone of the students in the lab were singing the song without any hesitation with their sweet little voices. It was just beautiful to hear and to see how happy that song was making everyone of them.

I am so happy I got this moment on video. And the best part...everyday I experience little moments like this with the kids at Van Meter and with my own children. I might hold the title of teacher librarian and mom, but they teach me more than I have ever learned in a classroom, online, or from a book. They teach me to embrace spontaneity, to find fun in little moments, to be noisy, to smile even on the worst day, and most of all....to have a VOICE all of your own!

And this is why I love being a teacher.

Announcing the NEW Van Meter Elementary Library and Tech VOICE Site!

2010-09-21T15:49:00.000-07:00

This year I am teaching technology to 3rd through 5th grade at Van Meter School along with their library time. The students come to the library and computer lab for 45 minutes once a week for this collaborative time.

With these changes and a focus on technology in our district, Jen Sigrist, Van Meter Director of Teaching and Learning, and I have been working on my curriculum. The library and technology curriculum includes four different strands: information literacy, technology literacy, digital citizenship, and love of reading.

After a couple weeks of school behind us and lots of time working together in the library and lab, I saw a need for a new site just for the elementary. I have created a new Google site called the Van Meter Elementary Library and Tech VOICE Site. This site will be geared towards elementary students but has a ton of fun things on it for everyone! There are lots of awesome fun brain and game websites; reading and book resources; typing games; Iowa AEA Online resources; and much more.

Since the vanmetervoice.com has been taken by the Van Meter Library VOICE Site, I asked the students at Van Meter what address they thought I should look for at GoDaddy.com. A few suggestions were littlevanmetervoice, vmvoice, and voice. We decided on bulldogvoice.com for the Elementary VOICE site. This will be easy to remember and share with everyone.

The Van Meter Elementary Library and Tech VOICE is a great place to connect, create, collaborate, and be HEARD! So check it out today and please let me know if you have suggestions of other wonderful resources to add to VOICE.

You Need to Visit Mrs. P's Digital Library

2010-07-06T04:43:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone is having an amazing summer! I am enjoying spending time with my family and friends, traveling, and learning new things.

This week my friend Kyle told me about a fun interactive digital storybook website called Mrs. P's Magic Library. Mrs. P, also known as actress Kathy Kinney, has created an amazing site that contains a Magic Library to listen to stories, fun activities, annual writing contests, and other learning resources. While you are listening to Mrs. P read a story, you can even play a spelling game or stop to send her a letter. And one thing I loved...she even has her own dictionary for help!

Mrs. P's stories are free on her website. Hagan has loved listening to Mrs. P read Jack and the Beanstalk and The Frog Prince this week. You can also purchase and download her wonderful stories to take with you too from iTunes, kidthing, or Audible Books. I have already downloaded several onto my iTouch for Hagan to listen to and I can't wait to share these with you in the library too!

Mrs. P has also included valuable teacher and parent resources on her site.

Have fun checking out Mrs. P's Magic Library and remember to KEEP ON READING this summer! I will see you all soon.

Van Meter is Going Someplace Special!

2010-02-13T15:26:00.001-08:00

To celebrate Black History Month, I share a lot of books and resources about the history and lives of African Americans in the United States and around the world with our students and teachers at Van Meter. Being a small school in rural Iowa, we do not have a lot of cultural differences so this is something very important to me to bring inside of our school. Our students love embracing the history and stories from other cultures and books are one way to accomplish this.

One book that I always read is Goin' Someplace Special by Patricia McKissak and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney. Goin' Someplace Special is the story of Tricia Ann (who McKissak tailored after herself) growing up in the 1950's at the time of segregation in the south. Tricia Ann took a journey by herself through several tough situations while going to her someplace special. At the end, we find that it is a big white stone building with "Public Library: Everyone Welcome" chiseled on the outside of the library above the welcoming doorway.

I love the message in the book, because not only is this a true story from the life of an African American growing up as a child in the south, it also shows that libraries are a place for everyone to feel welcome and safe. I read this book every year during Black History Month, because I want all of our students at Van Meter to know how much they are always able to come to the library to feel safe, wanted, and especially to have a VOICE and be heard. This is true with our entire school.

This year Staci Braun and I thought it would be fun to incorporate a fun technology into the lesson. I read the book over Skype (a teleconferencing tool) from my office in the secondary library and it was watched by the 4th graders in their classroom downstairs. Not only did I share the book, we also had a nice conversation about Black History month, segregation, and McKissak herself through this Skype experience. It really made me think about how lucky kids are now. I hope that our students have dozens of experiences such as this by connecting with people all over the world. This is a great way to bring various cultures and experiences into our school. Something that we would not have been as easy to do in the past.

And a powerful way for their VOICES to be heard all over the world....Van Meter is going someplace special!

You can watch Patricia McKissak read the book from the Scholastic Book website here.

Also, here is a list of resources to use and share for Black History Month from my Diigo Library.

Van Meter Elementary Kids GO WILD!

2010-01-30T18:24:00.000-08:00

I have been teaching the students about the various awards given by the ALA (American Library Association) each year. We discuss the Newbery, Coretta Scott King, Caldecott, and others during their time in the library every January.

One of my favorite awards is the Caldecott which goes to the illustrator of children's picture books. I share several of the books that I had as a child such as Make Way for Ducklings, Drummer Hoff, Miranda and Brother Wind, and of course my all time favorite Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak who was awarded the Caldecott Medal in 1964.

After I read Where the Wild Things Are, I introduced Build Your Wild Self (a fun web 2.0 tool that I shared in my last post) to the students. They had a BLAST making themselves wild over and over. The cool thing about Build Your Wild Self is that once they are created the wild things can be easily shared to any email address.

I will continue to add Slideshows to this post as our kids GO WILD at Van Meter over the next few weeks. Enjoy and try this great web 2.0 tool out for yourself!

Here are the 4th Graders GOING WILD! You can watch this here too!

Mindy Doggett, a second grade teacher at Van Meter, had her students make themselves WILD after a writing activity. You can see a few of their creations here!

Snow Day Web 2.0 Fun!

2010-01-25T14:47:00.000-08:00

"Mom! I'm bored!"

"I want to do something fun!"

"Mom, I want to play on the computer!"

"I can't watch one more movie!"

Hum....does this sound familiar to you? :) While at home today from school due to the blizzard I have heard Hagan, my 4 year old, say all of these things. He loves to watch movies with his big brother and sister, but like he said....you can only watch so many movies. He loves to play games, but that fun only lasts so long.

Most of all...Hagan LOVES to play on the computer! He has his own little folder on our bookmark bar marked HAGAN. In Hagan's folder he has bookmarked TumbleBooks, Nick Jr., PBS Kids, Kids WB (his favorite here is Batman), GameGoo, Roy the Tale of a Singing Zebra,

and ABC Ya!

Hagan is able to go to his bookmark folder on our iMac anytime. Usually he could play forever, but today he wanted to "make something like Brianna does." So this afternoon we set off to find some brand new Web 2.0 tools for Hagan and I to try.

We went to my Diigo List of Elementary Web 2.0 Tools and checked out quite a few. Hagan created a Wordle by typing words that he knew. We created different animals at the Switcheroo Zoo. And we made Hagan into a Super Hero in The Hero Factory.

The WINNER OF THE DAY was Build Your Wild Self! created by New York Zoos and Aquarium. With this fun Web 2.0 tool you can create a person to look like you and then WILD YOURSELF by adding horns, tails, snouts, wings, tusks, and much more!

Hagan created himself as a Cob-Ele-Ark-Torto-Tiger and me into a Hii-Fro-Ingo-Monarch Butterfly! We laughed and laughed creating funny WILD THINGS out of everyone in our family. He even sent his Wild Self to Brianna and Grandma which is easy to do once you have one created.

We added my Diigo List of Elementary Web 2.0 Tools to Hagan's bookmark folder today and these new favorites. I am excited to see what he will create next!

Van Meter NEWS Heard at VOICE!

2010-01-24T20:14:00.001-08:00

There are so many exciting events taking place this week at Van Meter, I thought that all of this news should really be HEARD!

Tomorrow....

My 7th graders in Technology and Information Literacy will be learning about YouTellYou from its creator Ruggero Domenichine! We are going to Skype with Ruggero who lives in New Zealand. YouTellYou is an amazing web 2.0 tool that lets you create photo stories about your life and share them with others through Twitter, Facebook, blogs, and other places. The 7th graders are very excited for learning experience and cannot wait to create their own YouTellYou stories with Ruggero. We will post our YouTellYou stories later this week.

Later in the week...

On January 28th Van Meter superintendent John Carver and Clayton Ridge Community School superintendent Allen Nelson have been invited to give testimony before the entire House/Senate Education Appropriation Committee. John's post from his Van Meter Think, Lead, and Serve Blog entitled Be Part of the Educational Transformation Proclamation will give you more details.

This important event will begin at 10:00 am (Iowa time) on the 28th. We are hoping to get as many SHOUT OUTS as possible on Twitter to #vanmeter throughout the morning to show world wide support of educational transformation! To learn more about Van Meter School you can visit us at the Think, Lead, and Serve Google site . Also, the ThinkLeadServe Wiki will begin to fill up with information throughout the week.

This will be our chance to be HEARD so mark your

calendars and make a difference!

Also in the news....

Last week Van Meter had our 6th snow day of the school year. A lot of students, teachers, and parents are questioning what these snow days will mean for us! Watch and read how the laptops and technology will give us an advantage to continued learning through snow days at Van Meter...

Schools Face Growing Snow Day Dilemma - Education News Story - KCCI Des Moines

And the Winner is.......

2010-01-23T18:23:00.001-08:00

As a little girl I was surrounded by a wonderful collection of books. My Mom taught my sister Heather and I what the bright, gold and silver circles were on the beautiful picture books that we read with her. When Heather and I were in college at the University of Northern Iowa we looked forward to adding these Caldecott Medal books to our growing collections to use in our classrooms and read to our own children someday. And now as a teacher librarian I love hearing the books that were awarded special honors at the beginning of each year and sharing them with the students at Van Meter and my three children.

On January 18 the American Library Association announced the 2010 award winning books at the Youth Media Awards Ceremony in Boston. There are dozens of awards that books can receive, but I must admit I have two that are my favorite!

Being an artist and lover of picture books, the Caldecott Medal is always the first that I look for. The Caldecott Medal is awarded annually to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children. Several of the books that we read as little girls won Caldecott Medals and Honors such as Where the Wild Things Are by Maruice Sendak who was awarded the Caldecott Medal in 1964; Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey who received a Caldecott Honor in 1949; and Ed Emberly who was honored with the Caldecott Medal in 1968 forDrummer Hoff.

This year the Caldecott Medal was awarded to Jerry Pinkley for his brightly colored textured watercolor illustrations and story of The Lion and the Mouse. This amazing story of friendship between two unlikely friends will surely be a favorite in the Van Meter Elementary Library and my own home. All the World illustrated by Marla Frazee and written by Liz Garton Scanlon along with Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski and written by Joyce Sidman received Caldecott Honors this year.

My second favorite American Library Association award is the Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in young adult literature. I got hooked on this award after Looking for Alaska by John Green won the Printz Award in 2006. Looking for Alaska is one of the my favorite all time books that made an impact on me as a reader and person. Year after year I find that the Printz Award is given to similar books that truly leave an impression on their readers heart.

This year was no different! Excitement filled the air when Going Bovine by Libba Bray was awarded the Printz! That day I picked it up at Barnes & Noble to dive into the world of 16 year old Cameron. I am enjoying the adventure he is taking me on as a reader! I love Bray's books and loved the YouTube interview for Going Bovine.

Check out Going Bovine and the Printz Honor Books below and go to ALA's site for a complete list of looking for the 2010 awards. I promise that you too will look forward to the announcement of these awards every January too!

2010 Winner

Going Bovine by Libba Bray Sixteen year old slacker, Cameron, sets off on a madcap road trip along with a punk angel, a dwarf sidekick, a yard gnome and a mad scientist, to save the world and perhaps his own life.

This wildly imaginative modern day take on Don Quixote is complex, hilarious and stunning. The hero’s journey will never be the same after “Going Bovine.”

2010 Honor(s)

	Charles and Emma: The Darwins’ Leap of Faith by Deborah Heiligman, published by Henry Holt Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group
	The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey, published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing
	Punkzilla by Adam Rapp and published by Candlewick Press
	Tales from the Madman Underground: An Historical Romance, 1973 by John Barnes and published by Viking Children’s Books, a division of Penguin Young Reader’s Grou

I Have a Dream...

2010-01-17T09:29:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow we will celebrate the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. This is one of my favorite days because it gives me a chance to tell my own children and the students at Van Meter that we are all equal, wonderful, and can do anything we put our mind to. We surround our students with beautiful books and other resources about this great man in the library. I share online resources with the teachers and students to integrate into their classrooms and view during free time at school and home. I read my favorite Martin Luther King, Jr. book, Martin's Big Words by Doreen Rappaport and illustrated by Bryan Collierto, to all of the students.

And then I show the students his amazing I Have a Dream speech and watch their faces as these listen to these words...

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."²

Taken from American Rhetoric

This week take time to look at the resources I have gather for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and Black History Month in February. You can find these in Shannon Miller's Diigo Library List-Black History Month & Martin Luther King, Jr.

And please take time to watch the video of Martin Luther King, Jr. as he gives his I Have a Dream speech. Post the words of his speech so others can read them.

Most of all, reflect and remember that everyone should have a dream and follow their passion! This will be one of the most important lessons you ever learn or teach a child.

New Voices from the Van Meter Students!

2010-01-07T22:31:00.001-08:00

Over the last month, there have been several AMAZING blogs created by students at Van Meter!

In the 7th grade Technology and Information Literacy Class I teach, the students are using their blogs as a digital portfolio of what they have created, learned, shared, and enjoyed throughout the seven weeks of class. When class is over, these students will continue to add to and share their blogs.

I would like to share these blogs with you now and encourage everyone to check them out! :)

I also have to share Emma D's Blog again. She is a 5th grader at Van Meter collaborating with me to create a blog for her class called WeTalk! We are working on digital book talks right now during library time and will add these soon to WeTalk. Emma also writes about technology and asks questions to get us TALKING on her blog.

All of these new blogs are SUPER examples of how we all have VOICES and something to share with others. I am proud of our bloggers at Van Meter. As more are created throughout the year, I will continue to add more to this list.

Let me know if you have a blog to share too! You can email me at shannon.miller@vmbulldogs.com or stop in the library to let me know. I would love to feature your blog on VOICE too!

AWESOME Book and Author Games from Harper Collins!

2009-12-30T14:14:00.001-08:00

On HarperCollins Children's website, you can find several fun book and author games! I have listed a few of them below...

Charlie Hits It Big coloring game

Color with Charlie!

Amelia Bedelia's Word Search

Help Amelia find the hidden words.

Big Words for Little People

Play the Big Words for Little People spelling game!

FUN Interactive Quizzes on National Geographic Traveler Website!

2009-12-30T13:54:00.000-08:00

Today I came across a really cool resource on National Geographic Traveler!

They have created several interactive quizzes on different topics like Pirates, Chocolateering, Toys, and other fun things! I just took a quiz on SNOW since we already have 27 inches of snow here in Van Meter! :) Click here to take the Ice and Snow Quiz. Underneath that quiz, you will see the links for the other quizzes as well.

I hope you are having a fun break! :)

GREAT Diigo Lists to Check Out from VOICE!

2009-12-27T20:35:00.001-08:00

Happy Holidays Everyone! I hope you are all having a fun break and great time with your family and friends.

Over break, I have been putting together SUPER lists of websites and online resources for students in my Diigo Library.

Diigo is a social bookmarking Web 2.0 tool, which is a great way to collect and share sites you find. On the Van Meter Library VOICE website I have made a page just for my Diigo Library and you can find it HERE.

And here are few of the other lists for elementary students that I have created in my Diigo Library:

Elementary Author and Book Resources

Elementary Web 2.0 Tools

Homework Help

Image/Photograph Resources

Language Arts Resources

Math Resources

Mrs. Miller's Favorite Web 2.0 Tools

Music Resources

Science Resources

Social Studies Resources

Elementary Brain Games from VOICE

2009-12-14T21:58:00.000-08:00

Elementary Brain Games from VOICE

This is the List that I created in my Diigo Library for Elementary Brain Games!

You will love all of the websites that I put into this List!

NEW Van Meter Libraries VOICE Google Site!

2009-12-14T20:46:00.000-08:00

I have some exciting news! We have a new Van Meter Libraries VOICE Google Site! VOICE will be the home of our elementary and secondary libraries. On this website you will be able to find just about anything that has to do with thinking, creating, learning, viewing, searching, accessing, listening, reading, and of course BEING HEARD!

Check out Van Meter Library VOICE Google Site Here

School Library Journal-Battle of the (Kids') Books

2009-12-14T13:50:00.000-08:00

The Battle of the (Kids') Books brought to us by School Library Journal is a SUPER FUN place to go to read about great books just for you! It was a competition between 16 of the very best books for young people published in 2008, judged by some of the biggest names in children's books.

Go to this blog to check out the winners and read some great discussion about these books!

Excited to announce a new student blog!

2009-12-08T21:02:00.000-08:00

It is a Snowy Day outside, just like one of my favorite books. :) In the morning when we all get up to welcome the first Snow Day of the school year, I will read that to my son Hagan.

I will also take a look at something new! It is the newest Van Meter student blog called We Talk created by blogger Emma D. This blog will hold book talks that the 4th and 5th graders are going to create in the Mac computer lab. The students are writing their book talks in December and the day we get back from break will start the production of these book talks.

Emma and her classmates will be adding lots of neat products to We Talk in the next few months.

You can find We Talk here! Have fun following their project on this blog and in the library.

befunky! Fun Web 2.0 Tools for Your Pictures!

2009-11-26T20:43:00.000-08:00

befunky turns your images into artwork with a single click!

FUN Thanksgiving Activity!

2009-11-25T19:30:00.001-08:00

If you're looking for an fun activity to do on Thanksgiving with your family and friends, National Geographic Kids offers a Mad Libs-like story writing activity. Funny Fill-In generates a funny Thanksgiving story based on the words that kids write in response to Thanksgiving prompts. If you don't use this at home tomorrow, consider bookmarking it for next year.

Wondering What to Do Over Break?

2009-11-25T00:42:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving break is here and we have five days off! I can't believe that it is almost December and the amount of THINKING, LEADING, AND SERVING taking place among our students and teachers at Van Meter!

Now since we are home for a few days are you wondering what you are going to do over break?

I have an idea for you! How about checking out all of the amazing Web 2.0 tools that I have put onto the Van Meter Library VOICE Google site? The list is growing everyday and it is a great place to go find some new Web 2.0 tools to try out.

Click here to go to the Web 2.0 Tools page on VOICE.

Also, I have added pages for Image, Sound, and Video Web Online Resources and Reading, Book, and Author Web 2.0. These tools are free and will be valuable resources to you. Try them out and let me know if you have any questions.

AND TEACHERS....I have a new page on VOICE called Teacher Web 2.0 Tools where I will post resources for teaching and learning. I will be happy to help you brainstorm ways to use these tools in your classroom! :) There are so many possibilities.

Have a super Thanksgiving!

I will see everyone next week. Mrs. Miller

Kideos....Videos for Kids!

2009-11-16T10:44:00.000-08:00

Kideos is a great website to safely watch videos online. They have videos from Disney, Muppets, Super Heros, and more! Click here to go to Kideos and start having fun today!

MakeBeliefsComix

2009-10-30T13:18:00.000-07:00

Click here to go to an awesome website to create your very own comic strips! When you are finished creating one, you have the option to share it with friends through an email or print it off.

Sherman Alexie author of The Diary of a Part Time Indian

2009-10-30T05:59:00.000-07:00

Sherman Alexie wrote one of the best books I have ever read. It is called Diary of a Part Time Indian. It is about a Indian teen who wants to leave his reservation and be what he describe as a "normal kid." The humor, honesty, and voice heard throughout this book is inspiring. Everyone who has read this book always comes back to the library telling me how much they loved it! Try it out too!

Check out Sherman Alexie's website here!

Glogster

2009-10-28T22:40:00.001-07:00

Get your geek on. Support the library. | geekthelibrary.org

2009-10-23T20:29:00.000-07:00

Get your geek on. Support the library. | geekthelibrary.org

Diary of a Wimpy Kid Dog Days-Book 4 By Jeff Kinney

2009-10-21T09:44:00.000-07:00

I was excited last week to pick up book 4 of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. These books have been so popular at Van Meter and I just knew that this one would be as funny as the first three. Dog Days will be available at the Scholastic Book Fair in November.

Jeff Kinney's Diary of a Wimpy Kid Website

Fall Scholastic Book Fair Coming November 5-12

2009-10-19T09:26:00.000-07:00

Once again the Scholastic Book Fair will be coming to our school during parent/teacher conferences November 5th through the 12th. Our goal is to sell over $5000.00 worth of books to bring tons of new resources into our libraries! Please come to our book and help support the reading, thinking, and learning that is taking place at Van Meter Community School.

Check out our Scholastic Book Fair Homepage here!

My Trip to Barnes and Noble

2009-10-18T11:03:00.000-07:00

This weekend I went to Barnes and Noble and picked up some new books for the elementary library. I know how much everyone loves to read the Sister's Grimm by Michael Buckley, so I found 4 more of those. Check out the Sister's Grimm website

I also bought the new book by Kate DiCamillo called The Magician's Elephant. I am so excited to read this new book! Brady and I are going to read it this week...I will let you know how it is! :)

Check out the website for this wonderful new book

And here is Kate DiCamillo's website